Fiji Vice-President convicted over coup oaths
Fiji's Vice-President, Ratu Jope Seniloli, was convicted yesterday of unlawfully swearing in ministers in a rebel government during a coup by armed nationalists four years ago.
Fiji's High Court found Seniloli guilty of administering unlawful oaths during the May 2000 coup that toppled the government of Mahendra Chaudhry.
Following the verdict, Seniloli was driven away to jail in the same prison truck that was used to escort the coup leader, George Speight, after he was convicted of treason.
Speight, a failed businessman, is serving a life sentence on a prison island for the coup, which he said was to reclaim power for indigenous Fijians from the government of Chaudhry, an ethnic Indian.
Judge Nazhad Shameem said she would sentence Seniloli today. He faces up to eight years in jail.
His conviction could have serious implications for Fiji's leadership if the 85-year-old President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, dies and leaves a power vacuum. Ratu Iloilo, who came to office after the 2000 coup, suffers from Parkinson's disease and several other illnesses, and regularly requires treatment in Australia.
"The verdict of the High Court has proven that the Fijian legal system and the Fijian people now stand by the rule of law and not by the rule of the gun," the prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, said.
Police and soldiers guarded the court in the capital, Suva, but there was no sign of unrest.
Speight and a handful of gunmen stormed the parliament in Suva on May 19, 2000, and took Chaudhry and most members of his government hostage.
The next day Seniloli, a Fijian chief, swore in a rebel administration but Speight never gained control of Suva or the rest of the country.
The military declared martial law while Mr Chaudhry and his ministers were still being held hostage and appointed an interim government.
The role of vice-president is largely ceremonial but Seniloli is also a ratu, or leader, of one of Fiji's influential chiefly tribes, which have an important role in Fijian life.